Corrupt Bookmaking in a Fixed Odds Illegal Betting Market

Illegal betting in a two-team sports contest is studied with player sabotage instigated by a monopolist bookmaker. Whereas punters hold beliefs about the teams' winning chances correlated with Nature's draw, the bookmaker's information is noise-free. Enforcement investigates with a higher probability, the greater the upset. In such an environment, if punters do not suspect match-fixing, the favourite is bribed, thus creating upsets and intensifying subsequent investigations. Match-fixing continues to hold even when punters are rational, provided that the bookie's beliefs are noisy: the bookie bribes the team he thinks is the favourite and the bettors bet on their perceived favourites.